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New Jersey's Rehabilitation Subcode
How New Jerseys subcode is organized

By John N. Terry | Fire Protection Engineering

Many existing buildings throughout the United States
were built to comply with an earlier building code or with no code, yet
are often still safe and sound. Many of these buildings continue to be
occupied, used and maintained. However, existing buildings in many urban
areas remain vacant, in part because rehabilitation projects trigger
requirements to bring existing buildings into compliance with building
codes for new construction.

For new buildings, complying with the
construction code is a straightforward process. Materials to be used,
processes to be followed and safety standards to be met are clearly
stated, and the cost of compliance is predictable. Compliance is less
straightforward in the case of existing buildings. Construction
standards written for new buildings have been applied to rehabilitation
work on existing buildings with often prohibitive costs. Building codes
developed with new construction in mind are difficult to apply
rationally and predictably to existing buildings. If developers and
building owners cannot predict with certainty what will be required to
bring a deteriorated building back into use, projects in existing
buildings will be less attractive.

Prior to the development of the Rehabilitation Subcode,1
the New Jersey regulations triggered code requirements for work in
existing buildings based on the cost of the construction project. The
greater the ratio of the cost of the project to the replacement value of
the building, the more the building needed to comply with the standards
for new buildings. Other approaches, such as the method outlined in
Chapter 34 of the International Building Code (IBC)2, use new building construction as the benchmark against which existing buildings are measured.

Chapter 34 of the IBC begins with the
premise that altered portions of the building must meet requirements for
new structures. As an alternative, the code allow the user to go
through an extensive evaluation of the building. The building is given
points for fire safety systems and features that meet or exceed the code
requirements for a new structure. Negative points are assessed for
features that are viewed as hazardous; no points are awarded for
features deemed to have neither a positive nor negative effect on the
fire safety of the building. If the existing building does not meet a
specified point value after assessing these features, the building owner
is required to provide improvements. This often requires building
owners to add features and fire safety systems to the building that
would not be required if the building were new.

Basing requirements for existing
buildings on the standards for new construction causes several problems:

In many cases, the requirements for new
structures cannot be met in existing buildings. Code requirements for
new construction contain numerous dimensional requirements that can be
difficult, if not impossible, to meet. For example, new building
requirements for stairway geometry (minimum tread and maximum riser
dimensions) often mean that existing stairways are too steep and need to
be replaced. Stairways with shorter risers and longer treads require
more room and often cannot fit into existing buildings without totally
reconfiguring the space. Other new construction dimensional requirements
that cannot be easily met in existing buildings are ceiling height
requirements, egress window requirements, corridor and door-way width
requirements, and sometimes the most difficult to meet, building height
and area requirements.

A second problem is predictability. Code
officials generally recognize that making an existing building meet all
of the requirements of the code applicable to new buildings is
impossible. However, it is equally impossible for the building owner or
design professional to predict which requirements of the code the
enforcing agencies will deem necessary to improve safety. Quite often,
this information is not known until the project has been submitted for
permitting. There is an additional level of uncertainty because it is
difficult to predict what obstacles will be encountered when trying to
place a new building system into an existing structure. This uncertainty
makes cost estimations arbitrary, at best.

Rules that aim to impose new
construction standards on existing buildings penalize building owners
who want to improve their buildings. Basing code compliance on the ratio
of the cost of work to the value of the building places an undue burden
on the building owner who chooses a "higher end" product. Furthermore,
similar rules can expand the applicant's scope of work by requiring
renovation of features that are neither unsafe nor in disrepair. The
additional costs associated with expanding the applicant's scope of work
can make the rehabilitation project financially infeasible, causing the
building owner to abandon planned improvements.

New Jersey's Approach

The challenge accepted by New Jersey was
to develop rational and predictable code requirements for existing
buildings that delivered safe and sound rehabilitated structures.

Instead of basing requirements on the
cost of the work to be performed, the Rehabilitation Subcode bases
requirements on the nature of the work. The code establishes specific
requirements for each category of work. These requirements are:

Products and practices. Products and practices list the items that are required and those that are prohibited.

Materials and methods.
The Materials and methods section identifies the provisions of the
codes for new construction that are required for the building components
being introduced. This section does not contain any of the scoping
requirements of the codes for new construction; it contains the
requirements for the materials and the installation methods for building
components that are within the owner's intended scope of work. For
example, the section of the code for the installation of gypsum
wallboard is included in the materials and methods section; however,
there are no scoping provisions that require the wall being constructed
to be afforded a fire-resistance rating in this section.

New building elements created as part of a rehabilitation project.
Each item listed in this section must conform to requirements for new
construction as provided in the new building elements section of the
Rehab Subcode. Some examples of new building elements are new atriums,
new corridors and new door openings.

Basic requirements. Basic
requirements cover topics such as capacity of means of egress, deadend
corridors and exit signs. They are imposed only within the work area
when the work is a reconstruction project. In New Jersey, the "Basic
Requirements" are rooted in the New Jersey Fire Safety Code (which is
based on the 2006 edition of the International Fire Code3).
The New Jersey Fire Safety Code establishes the minimum level of life
and fire safety for all existing buildings. The "Basic Requirements" in
the Rehabilitation Subcode match the requirements contained in the New
Jersey Fire Safety Code. If an existing building that complies with the
New Jersey Fire Safety Code not undergoing a construction project is
deemed safe, an existing building that is undergoing a construction
project is equally safe if it complies with the same requirements.

Supplemental requirements are imposed
when the work is a reconstruction project and the work area exceeds a
certain size. There are times when the construction project is so large
that expanding the scope of the project is reasonable. For example, if a
construction project encompasses more than 50 percent of the gross
enclosed floor area of a building that must be provided with a fire
alarm system, the alarm system is required to be expanded to the entire
building. The scope of the intended project is expanded in a rational
and predictable manner.

To apply these requirements uniformly, the
Rehabilitation Subcode establishes four categories of rehabilitation
work: repair, renovation, alteration and reconstruction. The four
categories of work are mutually exclusive and are defined as follows:

"Repair" means fixing a building
component that is worn or broken. Under this category, materials and
assemblies may be replaced with like materials and assemblies. There is
no limit to how much repair may be undertaken in connection with a
project. There are only a few specific exceptions to this rule. These
exceptions include requiring certain products and practices, such as the
installation of safety glazing in specific hazardous locations, and
prohibiting other items, such as certain electrical materials or
supplies.

"Renovation" is restorative in nature,
such as the replacement of interior finish, trim, doors or equipment,
but involves the use of different materials. There is no reconfiguration
of space. As with "Repairs," there are certain products and practices
that must be used or are prohibited. Additionally, the materials used
and the methods of installation must conform to the requirements found
in the materials and methods section. This type of work contains no
requirements that will expand the scope of the intended project.

An "alteration" project involves the
reconfiguration of an existing space. Products and practices and
materials and methods requirements apply to alteration work. New
building elements installed as part of the alteration project must
comply with the referenced sections of the codes for new construction.

In an alteration, the portion of the
building being altered does not need to be brought up to the standard
established in the basic requirements. The basic requirements are used
as a measuring stick. The work being done cannot make the building less
conforming to the basic requirements than it was before the work was
undertaken.

"Reconstruction" is a project that
consists of the other categories of work where the work includes an
entire tenancy (a portion that is under the ownership or control of one
owner or tenant) and precludes occupancy during the project. This
category is more of a "quantity" of work rather than a category of work
and is commonly referred to as a "gut rehab." Reconstruction includes
repair, renovation and/or alteration in any combination.

Repair, renovation and alteration work
that make up a reconstruction project must comply with the requirements
for the applicable category of work. The entire work area must comply
with basic requirements. Certain reconstruction projects also must meet
the supplemental requirements, which apply only when the work area for a
reconstruction project exceeds a specific size.

Another type of project that can be
undertaken as an existing building is a "Change of Use." A "change of
use" results from one of two conditions: a change of the building
occupancy classification or a change in the nature or intensity of the
use. The "Change of Use" section details what must be done, for example,
when a building that has been a store (Group M) is changed into a
restaurant (Group A) or when a small restaurant is expanded. The change
in the use of the building space may initiate requirements of one or
more of the codes for new construction. For example, the plumbing
subcode may require additional toilet fixtures, the electrical subcode
may require ground fault circuit interrupters, or the mechanical subcode
may require that the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system
be upgraded. The amount of work required depends on whether the
occupancy change creates a greater hazard or intensity as defined in the
code.

The "Change of Use" section contains six "hazard" tables. These tables
establish the concept of an increase in hazard that may be associated
with the change in the occupancy classification of the building. The
first table categorizes the overall hazard associated with the new use
group relative to the existing use group. The next five tables address
specific hazards associated with the following technical issues: means
of egress, height and area, exposure of exterior walls, fire suppression
systems and structural loads. These tables operate independently of one
another. Additionally, there are separate requirements for vertical
openings, fire alarm, fire detection and smoke detectors. There are also
separate sections that address work required by the plumbing,
electrical , mechanical or accessibility codes.

The last type of project that can be
undertaken on an existing building is an "addition." Simply put, an
addition is required to comply with the provisions of the codes for new
construction; however, the other sections of the Rehabilitation Subcode
apply to the existing portion of the building.